


Neighborly

by ILoveKataang2020 (MadameZero)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27235009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameZero/pseuds/ILoveKataang2020
Summary: Aang is just chilling in his apartment in between work appointments when the woman of his dreams shows up at his door with a startling accusation.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	Neighborly

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I'm one of those people who loved ATLA (and Kataang) as a kid and then forgot about it for years but reemerged after quarantine rewatch. This will be the beginning of my modern AU universe. Please, if you leave a review, feel free to answer the question at the bottom. Thanks for looking!

Aang signed off the Zoom session with a long trailing sigh. That had been one of his toughest cases yet. He knew the parties would reach a compromise, but there had been some tense moments for certain.

Still, he got the job done and it was time for ... he looked at his watch and his eyes jumped in surprise ... lunch, already! It was nearly noon.

He considered what he had in his refrigerator and almost immediately reached for his phone. Though he had the raw materials for something that could pass as a meal, he felt like he'd earned an order of veggie pad thai and spring rolls from the shop around the corner. His next meeting wasn't until 3 o'clock, so he thought maybe he could get some reading in. He'd just started reading a mystery, and though he was usually horrible at such things, he was pretty sure he knew who the murderer was and he wanted to see if he was right.

Aang had pulled up Uber Eats on his phone and was about to place an order when the knock came.

He looked at the door, and then at his watch, and frowned. It was a little too early for the mailperson and of course, he hadn't ordered his food yet. He wondered if it was his landlord coming to fix that small leak under the sink. It was about time, if so. Aang had complained about it the minute he'd moved in and discovered it. It was more of an annoying drip than anything, but it was the principle of the thing.

He walked over to the door, trying to decide whether to play it hard, as if he were angry it had taken so long for his landlord to get around to him, or play it soft and be smiling and grateful. Aang had decided on something in the middle.

He opened the door. But then nearly fell through it.

It was not his landlord on the other side. Far from it.

It was **her**.

 **The Goddess**.

Aang had moved into the apartment building a few weeks earlier. On his last trip coming from the moving van, he spotted a slender, tallish girl with long chocolate-brown hair and skin the color of buttered toast standing in the vestibule of the building. She'd smiled and said hello, holding the door open for him and transfixing him with bright blue eyes set in an otherworldly beautiful face.

Aang, busy trying to not wet his pants stammered a string of incoherent sentences until his friends Kuzon and Haru, who were helping him move, appeared and thankfully dragged him away before he could really make a fool of himself.

He'd seen **The Goddess** twice more since then, once in the parking lot and another time, she was coming from the laundry room while he was going in. She greeted him warmly each time, leaving a trail of daisies and spice in her wake, and setting his heart on fire.

Aang had resigned himself to the thought that The Goddess probably was with someone, and even if she weren't, was way out of his league anyway, so glimpses of her perfection would be all he could expect.

Yet, now she was **here** , right in front of his face, looking so **Goddess-like** he could cry!

For her part, the dark-haired beauty on the other side of his door looked a little startled to see him. Her hand was still in the air as if she were going to knock again. Aang noisily inhaled and tried not to drool or faint.

"H-Hi."

 **The Goddess** recovered herself and lowered the hand.

"Hello. I'm Katara. I'm in the apartment below yours."

Aang leaned against the door for support. Being so close to this woman ...

_Katara! Even her name is gorgeous!_

**...** was something he thought would happen only in his dreams. And a few daydreams.

Well, maybe more than a _few_.

"I'm Aang." He smiled and hoped he didn't look demented. "Nice to meet you ... oh! You're in 3N? I bet I know why you're here."

"You do?" Katara looked surprised. "If that's true, I'm a little stunned you even opened the door."

Aang puzzled over that comment. Why wouldn't he? It wasn't his fault, and maybe there'd be some action finally.

"Well, I've been complaining about the leak under my sink from my first night here. That's when I realized what was happening," he said. "But the landlord's sort of blown me off. If the leak's broken through to your kitchen ceiling, he'll _have_ to do something."

Katara stared at him uncomprehendingly. "The what? Leak? I'm not here about any leak."

"Oh." Aang studied her curiously. "Then, uh, what can I do for you?"

A deep blush suddenly stained her cheeks and Aang tried not to squirm. He wouldn't let his mind go _there_ about why that particular question would cause the girl to blush. It would be traipsing too close to the scenarios of some of the videos Kuzon liked to watch back when they were dorm roommates and he thought Aang was asleep.

"Look, I don't like to be a jerk." Katara rumpled her hair, making it look even more tousled and sexy. Aang swallowed hard. "But I work nights, and I have to sleep during the day. I'm really not the best person when I can't get enough sleep, and my job is pretty intense."

Aang listened with growing confusion. He understood all of that as a general rule. He was a zombie when he didn't get enough sleep either, but he had no idea what that had to do with him.

"I get you," said Aang, bewildered. "Was I walking around too much? Sometimes I like to pace when I'm trying to figure something out."

"Uh, no. I've actually never heard footsteps up here. You must be light on your feet." Katara was eyeing him strangely. "Right, so this is going to be embarrassing for the both of us, so I guess I should just treat it as a band aid and rip it off: Your sex noises are keeping me up. Could you maybe ... hook up a little quieter?"

Aang's mind briefly imploded at the words "your" and "sex" coming out **The Goddess's** mouth, but at the rest of the sentence, his brain hastily tried to reassemble itself.

" _What?"_ The word came out more like a wheeze or a gasp.

She averted her eyes. There was still a light blush on her cheeks.

"Like I said, I'm not trying to be an asshole or a killjoy. It's ... great that you and your partner are, uhhh, enjoying yourselves so much. But the walls here are like swiss cheese. Since you're new here, I gave you the benefit of the doubt the first couple of times, but this is like the fifth time in the past week I've woken up because ... you know. I don't want to complain to the landlord, but if it comes to that, I will."

Aang gulped. "Katara, I'm sorry, but I was _not_ doing that."

He could have told her that he hadn't done _that_ in a long time, but he knew such a comment would be a complete overshare.

"It happened just 20 minutes ago," she said slightly accusingly. "I know what I heard. It wasn't a video, either. Not that it would be any better if you had it loud enough for people to hear. But I can tell the difference between the real thing and a porno. I _do_ have an older brother."

Aang idly thought that Katara's older brother and Kuzon would have made interesting roommates.

"Twenty minutes ago, I was _working_ ," said Aang, frowning. "I was in a Zoom meeting. My clients would probably have noticed me having loud sex in the middle of trying to hammer out their agreement."

Katara's expression shifted from anger to curiosity. "Clients? Agreement? What do you do?"

"I work for Avatar Mediation Services," he answered. "We handle it all. Anything from ironing out roommate agreements to helping people amicably leave their employers and work out the best settlements. When, uhhhh, you were getting woken up, I was helping a divorcing couple agree to a custody arrangement for the three koi they'd raised together."

" _Really_?" She looked intrigued. "People actually hire mediators for things like _that_?"

"Pet custody agreements are a big part of our business," said Aang nodding. "Child custody has to be handled by courts and a lot of lawyers seem to consider 'who gets the dogs/cats/fish' to be frivolous when there's a lot of other things to settle. So when people can't reach an agreement on their own, the lawyers usually retain us to mediate."

"That's a really interesting-sounding job, and under normal circumstances, I'd really like to hear more, but I'm a little confused now. You didn't hear any of the racket?" Katara looked skeptical. "None of the moaning or screaming or bedsprings creaking?"

"I have my headset on when I'm working with clients," said Aang. "And to be honest, I usually sleep like a rock. But sound does carry. A few nights ago, I heard some people arguing about whether or not to get pineapple on their pizza. It sounded like it was coming right from upstairs, but it couldn't have been because that apartment's empty. I remember wanting to see it and the landlord said he had to gut the bathroom so it wouldn't be ready for another six months. So it had to be someone on the fifth floor, but not right above me. Maybe the corner apartment. The two guys who live there sound like they'd have that kind of argument."

Katara shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry that I blamed you. I didn't realize you were working at the time. The thing is, I know most of the people on this floor. A lot of them are, well, my Gran-Gran's age, and probably aren't exactly, ummm, engaging in _that_ kind of activity. Though my Gran-Gran's married and I'm not, so maybe I shouldn't assume."

Aang felt a jolt of elation at those words but then reality set in. "Not married" didn't necessarily mean "single."

"I'll keep my ears open," he said seriously. "If I hear anything like that and can pinpoint where it's coming from, I'll be sure to say something to that person. I'm sure the people are just kind of getting swept up in the moment, but this _is_ an apartment building with thin walls, so people should probably try to be on the quieter side just in case."

"True, but I mean, this was _really_ obnoxious," said Katara. "The guy screaming especially was just over the top ..."

Aang heard a door opening and then closing somewhere down the hall and giggly voices and footsteps coming close. Katara glanced in the direction of the sounds. Aang was startled when her face went slack and her eyes widened. The giggly voices stopped abruptly.

" _Katara?"_

The voice was male and sounded horrified. A feminine voice spoke up a second later.

"Oh, is this your sister? Hi, we've not actually met yet, but I'm Suki."

Katara was glaring in the direction of the voices in shock and rising rage.

" _Sokka_? Oh my god, was that _you_ making all that that noise?"

" _Why are you awake?_ **"**

"Why were _you_ screaming your head off like ... UGH. You know I live here, why would you even ... _ **"**_

"Sokka, I told you that it might be a little too close for comfort coming to my place knowing your sister lives here, too." There came an embarrassed laugh. "Especially since we hadn't even been introduced yet."

"Wow, someone with braincells. At least I can say you picked someone smart, Sokka."

" _Hey_! What are you even doing up on this floor anyway?"

"Accusing a perfectly innocent person of interrupting my sleep with horniness!"

Aang poked his head around the door. He saw a tall man around his age with an undercut and the rest of his hair cinched atop his head. He had Katara's blue eyes and tan skin, though his face was so red, it was almost hard to note his complexion. Standing next to him, looking composed but mildly mortified, was an athletic-looking, pretty girl with short auburn hair.

Aang had never seen the guy before, but he'd passed the redhead a few times near the mailboxes and they'd exchanged perfectly friendly nods, and once had laughed when they realized their mail had been mixed up in each other's boxes.

"Hi!" Aang waved to the group standing in tense anger in the hallway.

"Uh, hi," the young man muttered.

"Hello." The redhead, Suki, apparently, smiled wanly at him. "Aang, right?"

"Aang?" Sokka eyed him with interest before looking at Suki. "This is the guy you were telling me about who has the cool arrow tats on his arms and legs?"

"Yep!" Suki gave Aang a thumbs up. "Been meaning to tell you, really nice work, whoever did those."

Aang smiled, but his face flamed when he noticed Katara looking at him with renewed interest, her eyes following the path of the arrow tattoos on his arms.

"Oh t-thanks!" Aang said when he was satisfied he wasn't going to combust under Katara's curious gaze. "I-I'll have to tell Monk Gyatso he has fans."

"Monk Gyatso? Is that some sort of stage name?" Suki looked puzzled. "Like that guy Bison Angel who works at the shop down on Roku Avenue?"

"Nope, he's an actual monk named Gyatso."

"Huh?" Sokka's eyes bulged. "A _monk_ owns a tattoo parlor?"

"Ummm, no. It's kind of a long story. Uh, listen." Aang pondered his words for a moment. "These walls _are_ thin. And Katara hasn't been able to sleep because of, uhhhh, the racket."

"And maybe I won't ever again, knowing that what I was hearing was ... UGH!" Katara clapped her hands over her ears.

Sokka grimaced briefly at her before turning his attention to Aang.

"Look, I wasn't trying to pull anything! I live with four guys in a three-bedroom apartment. The privacy level is nonexistent. I'm getting my master's, so that takes up most of my day, and Suki's in law school at night _and_ works security at a bar downtown after classes. This is really the only time we can get some, uhhh, quality time together."

Sokka then looked at Katara. "Yeah, I was a little weirded out when I realized Suki's place was in your building, but I figured we'd be in the clear because you'd be asleep during this time and I'd be out of here way before you'd get up!"

Katara grimaced at him. "Maybe that would have been a good plan if you could, I don't know, not _scream_ like a complete douchebag?!"

"I ... er ... actually don't mind the screaming," offered Suki, blushing a little. Sokka beamed at her.

"Thanks, babe. Believe me, it's really, really well deserved ..."

" _Sokka, will you stop_? I cannot _tell_ you how much I _don't_ need to hear any of this! _Any. Of. It._ "

Aang thought Katara looked about to explode. And not in the way that Sokka was apparently referring to as far as Suki was concerned.

"Hold it!"

Aang brought his hands perpendicular to each other to form a "time out" T. Three heads swiveled in his direction.

"You know what? I have an idea."

Aang opened his door wider and beckoned them in.

"I'm sort of an expert in helping people work things out," he said. "Let's all sit down and talk about it."

* * *

Aang sighed in contentment. He didn't want to brag, but he was always happy when he'd done a good job. This had been a tough one, but he thought they'd all come through nicely.

"Okay, I think we have it."

He squinted down at the paper upon which he'd been writing. Around his dining room table sat Katara, Sokka, and Suki.

"Sokka and Suki: On the days Katara is working, keep the noise level down in general, but especially between 7 am and 3pm. And screaming is to be avoided if at all possible. Katara: You agree that when Sokka and Suki have fall or spring break from classes and might be spending more time together at her place, that you'll wear SleepSoft noise-cancelling headphones to bed just in case, uh, occasional mishaps happen. And they have to be _occasional_ mishaps. Sokka will provide said headphones at his expense. New, not pre-owned. Katara, you also agree, in case of said mishaps, not to tear Sokka's wolftail off and feed it to him through his nose. Do we have a deal?"

"... Yes, I suppose that's fine. _Silver or midnight blue_ headphones, Sokka." Katara glared hard at her brother. "Don't get me rose gold or anything because you consider it an 'appropriate' color for a _girl_. Besides, that color would clash with my sheets."

"This works for me," said Suki. "I'm trying to change my hours, so maybe I'll get off work a lot earlier than 4 in the morning and Sokka and I will be able to ... have _quality time_ before Katara gets home."

"Sure. I'm down with it." Sokka looked at Aang with admiration. "You really are pretty decent at this sort of thing. And your tats _are_ pretty sick, I have to admit."

"Thanks! Just the Avatar service guarantee," said Aang with a smile. "Now if you could all sign at the bottom, I'll scan this and text you all copies, if you'll leave your contact information. This agreement will go into effect in 24 hours."

Aang found a pen for them to pass around, and grimaced as his stomach rumbled. He'd completely forgotten food and his stomach was cheerfully reminding him to fill it or it would turn itself inside out.

"Can I interest anyone in something to eat?" Aang looked around the table. "There's a great Thai place around the corner. I was going to grab lunch there before ... things happened."

He smiled at Katara and his stomach flipped in a non-food related motion. She was grinning conspiratorially at him and her cheeks looked a little red.

"Thanks, but we'd better get going," said Sokka, rising and offering his hand to Suki. "I have a couple of stops to make before class ... like to the mall to buy _someone_ SleepSoft headphones. Guess I can't hope they're on sale. Ugh, there go the games I wanted to buy this month."

"It was nice to finally get a chance to meet you, Katara," said Suki. "Sorry it wasn't less ... weird."

"It's nice meeting you, too. I hope we get a chance to hang out sometime."

Suki's face lit up. "I'd love that! Between school and work, I haven't had a chance to make any real girl friends. Maybe we could go to the fancy spa sometime for mud manicures."

Katara looked excited. "I have been wanting to do that forever! Text me, okay?"

"Hey! How come I can't suggest that sort of thing without being called a chauvinist?" Sokka looked aggrieved.

"Because it's different when an actual _woman_ suggests it." Katara glanced at her brother. "You do usually have a pretty decent amount of working braincells, Sokka. Use them and make sure you hold on to her." She nodded toward Suki.

"Don't worry, sis. Not planning on letting go."

Sokka's expression was mushy as he and Suki gazed at each other. Aang thought it as well to clear his throat just in case the mushiness started to get more intense than needed. Sokka grinned at him and said he'd left his and Suki's numbers on the back of the "contract," and expressed a desire to play some pickup basketball some time if Aang was ever up for it.

When they'd left, Aang turned to Katara, shyly.

"I guess you want to try to get some sleep before you have to work. Sorry this took so long."

She smiled and he thought he'd melt into a puddle then and there.

"You didn't have to do any of this. I mean, you get paid to this kind of thing, and you did it for us for free," said Katara. "Thank you so much. I was considering whether I was going to need to move out, and I really like it here."

"I'm glad, because I really like being your upstairs neighbor," said Aang, blushing.

Katara bit her lip in a most distracting way.

"Is the offer of lunch still on the table? I'm not really all that tired now, and that restaurant you were talking about, Jasmine Rice, is one of my favorites."

Aang forgot how to speak for several seconds. Then his stomach prodded him again.

"Sure! That'd be great! I was just going to order a bunch of stuff for delivery, but would you like to go to the restaurant itself?"

"I think that would be a good idea," said Katara with a wry grin. "The way those two were looking at each other just now makes me they aren't going to head to the mall right away and want to get one last round in before the agreement goes into effect."

Aang had to agree that this was likely, but his mind was occupied with other things. He was going out for a meal with **The Goddess**!

No. Not with **The Goddess.** With _Katara._

She wasn't just a fleeting fantasy. She was real and they knew each other's names now. Plus, she wanted to have lunch with him!

Maybe it would lead to just friendship, but at least he'd get the chance to actually _know_ her and not worship her from afar. Sometimes life was pretty good.

* * *

Aang blinked his eyes open blearily. He'd heard what sounded like a whispered conversation, and then a long sigh, but he wasn't able to put the sounds into context.

When he became more awake, he saw the satiny beauty of Katara's bare back. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from him. The blankets were pooled around her waist, and her hair was up in a messy, loose bun.

Aang sat up a little more, enraptured. His nude body beneath the sheets began to heat up at the sight of her, one particularly part of his anatomy perking up in more than obvious interest.

"Sweetie?"

Katara turned a little, giving him a side view of her luscious breasts. Aang unconsciously licked his lips.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Sweetie. Did I wake you?"

"Not really." He ran his hand down her shoulder, smiling at her shiver of pleasure. "I thought I heard voices. Were you on the phone just now?"

"Ugh. _Yes_." Katara's voice was grim. "It was Sokka."

Aang blinked. "Really? What time is it?"

"A little after 8 o'clock."

"Whoa, really? Is everything okay?"

Katara sighed again. "Not really. He spent the night at Suki's. He says we need some _alterations_ to the arrangement because now _they_ can hear _us_."

Aang chuckled. Things _had_ gotten a little loud in the last few moments before ... the grand finale. He'd been too blissfully sated at the time to notice much or care.

"Haha ... oops."

"He said he expects to get SleepSoft noise cancelling headphones, too! For him _and_ Suki. In midnight blue for her and rose gold for him."

Aang half nodded. He thought the colors would suit them. Sokka especially.

"I _told_ you Sokka was a pretty cool older brother for the most part, but he could be petty when he wants to be," she groaned. "It only took him three months to find a loophole. I personally don't even think we were making all _that_ much noise! Well, not compared to how _they_ used to go at it!"

"Mmm. Well, I guess everything's relative," said Aang, pulling her closer. "Maybe now that _we're_ together and Sokka is considering moving in with Suki, we will need to make some changes to keep the peace. But in the meantime ..."

"In the meantime ...?" Katara sounded breathless. Her hands were stroking the path of his tattoos, and she had swung a leg around to straddle him.

"In the meantime ..." he said through gritted teeth as she hovered above him _so close_ that he could feel her welcoming heat _. "..._ If we have to shell out for those headphones, we might as well get our money's worth ..."

Fin

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I want to strike while the iron's hot, so let me know what story you'd ideally want to see next:
> 
> a) Aang and Katara's first "real" date (after Jasmine Rice)
> 
> b) The first time they get jiggy
> 
> c) Double-date with Sokka and Suki (maybe triple date with Sokka/Suki and Zuko/Toph? or Zuko/Mai?)
> 
> d) Something not listed here


End file.
